Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, October 11, 2025.

I hope all of you reading this in Colorado today are enjoying that extra cup of coffee to help your brain remember where you left your shirt, and also find that little something extra in the tank that’s needed to get through the final day of pouring today at GABF in Denver.

It should also help perfect that smile and nod when Jess says, “Hey buddy, how about you fill that glass all the way up like a real pour?” when she visits your booth.

Back on the East Coast, the Phillies may have totally botched their season in extra innings Thursday night … but they did manage to win the 9-9-9 challenge, putting together this uh, more “achievable” version with mini-hot dogs and beer tasters for their NLDS home games this month.

Ya know, just in case your physical human ingestion capability (and wallet capacity) doesn’t match those of JJ Watt – at a $55 price point, that’s a far better deal than buying 9 hot dogs and 9 beers during 9 innings at MLB ballpark concession prices.

PLUS: The BA is trimming CBC by a day next year in Philly, with the dates listed as April 20 thru 22, with the WBC awards being handed out on the 22nd. 

THEN: Yeah, summer was as bad as it seemed for craft beer in the off-prem – decidedly worse than last year and the 2025 YTD numbers, according to new BWC data based on NIQ off-prem numbers. 

This is the YoY change in craft numbers the 18-wk period ending September 20 for each year:

• 2025 summer: sales -8.4%, volume -6.4%
• 2024 summer: sales -5.1%, volume -5.6% 
• 2025 YTD: sales -5.8%, volume -7.8% 

AND: It should be noted that there are now 10% fewer craft vendors in NIQ-tracked channels vs. 2023 due to industry contraction.

Zoe has a further data intel and comps here across the top vendors.

The B3 BEVERAGE COMPANY platform has added MD’s HEAVY SEAS to the fold, joining YARDS, TWO ROADS and BALD BIRDS.

HEAVY SEAS is MD’s largest craft brewer, producing over 24k BBL in 2024, according to a state report.

TRILLIUM BREWING

Sales Manager – Canton, MA

OWL’S BREW

Market Manager – San Diego, CA

BLACKHORSE BREWERY

Chief Commercial Officer and former CMO Michelle St. Jacques is leaving the company on November 14 after a 6-year stint, as new MC CEO Rahul Goyal makes his first big move to realign things at the top level.

The Americas Commercial Organization that St. Jacques ran will also be dissolved, with Goyal expanding the top leadership team to include:

• Chantalle Butler, president – Canada sales;
• Sofia Colucci, CMO;
• Brian Feiro, president of U.S. sales;
• Jeff Long, chief strategy and capabilities officer;
• And Darrin Vohs, chief information officer.

This existing leadership team will also remain in the mix:

• Brian Erhardt, chief supply chain officer;
• Tracey Joubert, CFO;
• Natalie Maciolek, chief legal, communications and government affairs officer;
• Dave Osswald, chief people and culture officer;
• Phil Whitehead, president and CEO of EMEA APAC.

Your YTD CIRCANA data for MC through September 7 is:

• Dollar sales: -5.6% (-$321M and -0.51 share points)
• Volume: -6.9%

ELSEWHERE: 

Over at A-B – sales leader Jake Kirsch will be the new president of its U.S. beyond beer business as of January 1.

Not much of a surprise in the Q2 numbers except in the sense that you’d think I was drunk if I told you this info a year ago (and everyone knows I only write with a slight buzz – Justin says it helps my writing, although I think he meant he needs to have a beer before he even looks at this newsletter).

H1 2025 CONSTELLATION beer biz numbers:

• Sales: -5%
• Depletions: -2.6%

AND: Diving a bit deeper – Q2 was significantly worse than Q1:

• Shipments -8.5% (-3.3% in Q1);
• Depletions -2.7% (-2.5% in Q1);
• Net sales -7% (-2% in Q1);
• Operating income -12% (-5% in Q1). 

It seems TILRAY’s Project 420 cost savings initiative helped to offset sales declines in the summer numbers (which is Q1 in the company’s FY26). Note that the period goes from June thru August, aka “TILRAY Time” 😉.

Those cost savings are pretty significant – amounting to $25M so far, achieved via SKU rationalization and the closures of three facilities “so far,” with a target of $33M ultimately.

• Beer was 27% of its revenue, down 1% YoY ($55.7M)
• Cannabis was 31% ($64.5M)
• Wellness products were 7% ($15.2M)
• The distribution biz is still the largest, at 35% of revenue ($74M)

Total TILRAY Q1 revenue was $209.5M (+5%), with a net profit of $1.5M.

• Ohio’s Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a 90-day executive order banning all products on shelves containing “De Weed” (no, I’m not proud of that), or more accurately – all intoxicating hemp products, which must be removed by retailers or face a potential fine of $500 a day.
• 2 more VOODOO BREWING brewpub locations closed in TX last week, making for a total of 5 locations this year.
• DISCUS said spirits exports were -9% in Q2 YoY due to … yeah, you don’t need me on this one.
• BOSTON BEER’s SUN CRUISER is coming to that 19.2 oz. can life in Q4 and going national in January. It’ll be the first vodka iced tea and vodka lemonade in the format.
• Tom Holland’s BERO is doing a limited-release nitro coffee stout collab with Robert Downey Jr.’s HAPPY COFFEE brand, available D2C and in TARGET stores.
• Now defunct brewpub chain IRON HILL officially filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on October 4, with over $20M in debts.

We’re less than 3 months out from BREWBOUND LIVE – time to get those tickets for December! Just know that if you respond “Sure!” when Zoe asks if you want a beer – know that she’s gonna tell you to go to the bar and get her one too. Come to think of it, maybe that’s just what she does to me.

The team is also bringing back the one-on-one meetings with retailers and distributors once again (including WHOLE FOODS, BREAKTHRU, SUNSET and HEIMARK so far) and assembling a great round of speakers already, with a lot more to come!

• Sophia D’Angelo, founder and CEO, Boston Experiential Group;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of bev-alc thought leadership, NIQ;
• Andrew Hummel, director bev-alc vertical, CGA;
• Rosalie Kennedy, director of marketing, Athletic Brewing;
• Sam Hendler, co-founder and CEO, Hendler Family Brewing Company;
• Bourcard Nesin, analyst – beverages, Rabobank;
• Jon Halper, owner and CEO, Top Ten Liquors;
• Nick Firestone, CEO, Firestone Walker;
• Leah Wong Ashburn, owner and CEO, Highland Brewing.

SO: Book your hotel room and tickets here.

Get your BREWBOUND Pitch Slam applications in by October 15 – this Wednesday!

You’ll not only join a pretty great lineup of former winners in FUNKYTOWN, CROWNS AND HOPS, LUNAR HARD SELTZER, SUNBOY and more, but you also get an industry awareness advertising package on Brewbound.com valued at $10,000.

Most importantly, you’ll be mentioned in this newsletter.

APPLY HERE!

This week, former 10 BARREL R&D brewmaster Tonya Cornett joins the pod to dive into the changes in life under TILRAY ownership after years under A-B, which resulted in layoffs for her and her team – and the next chapter she is building for herself at UPP LIQUIDS.

BUT FIRST: The BREWBOUND gang sounds … tired. Or at least ⅓ of them does as she contemplates packing for life on the road, living that dream beer convention lifestyle.

The team dives into:

• The changes atop MC and in the numbers at CONSTELLATION
• How Jess’ prom attire and beer pouring attire coincide
• Zoe talking trash to former podcast guests

LISTEN HERE! Or just search “Brewbound” on your podcast listening platform of choice. And leave a review and rating, would ya? (Good ones only, plz)

This week’s beer is going out to Hunter, which at this point … may not be a lot of you. 

Yes, it seems as Gen Z begins to enter the parenting age, and more importantly, the baby-naming age – “Hunter” is apparently so millennial … as its popularity as a name choice for newborns is -93% over the past 5 years.

For some reason, the folks at A-B find this to be very concerning, as BUSCH LIGHT is running a new contest to cover the paperwork costs for one 21+ drinker if they agree to change their name legally to Hunter … plus, A-B is throwing in 19 years-worth of BUSCH LIGHT (hopefully not all delivered at once) to celebrate the beer’s 19th year of releasing special-edition camouflaged/hunting-themed cans.

Now, as Hunter was a very popular name for millennial parents to give their kids – chances are there are already a lot of “Hunter” folks in their 20s out there, so I’m not sure this solves the problem here.

But, who am I to get in the way of sound life decisions … like legally changing your name as an adult for some free beer. 

Hmm, wonder if they’ll throw in some BUSCH LIGHT Apple if you also offer to change your middle name to Bapple at the same time? I mean, A-B is already picking up the paperwork tab – might as well.

Slainté!

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)